What we AREN'T Being Told

I fell into a website this morning associated with Reuters that calls istelf AlertNet: Alerting humanitarians to emergencies and it made me sick. While I would rather NOT encourage more site hits for this Organization, it is worthwhile to offer your considerations to what can be found there:

U.S. and Iraqi forces have been battling a Sunni Arab insurgency against the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government since U.S. troops toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

A wave of sectarian violence since the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine on Feb. 22 has killed hundreds.

Asterisk denotes a new or updated item.

*BAGHDAD - A child was killed and three people wounded when a mortar round landed on a house in the Shula district of Baghdad, police said.

*BAGHDAD - Two civilians were killed and four wounded when a car bomb targeting a U.S. military convoy exploded in southern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier died of wounds from a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

ISKANDARIYA - A civilian was killed and three wounded when a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol went off in Iskandariya, south of Baghdad, police said.

TIKRIT - Five bodyguards were wounded when a car bomb exploded near the convoy of the governor of Salahaddin province in Tikrit, 170 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

TIKRIT - Five people were killed and 18 wounded when a bomb targeting a police patrol exploded in Tikrit, police said.

KIRKUK - Two policemen were killed and four wounded when two car bombs exploded in separate attacks on a police patrol in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, 250 km (150 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Four policemen and six civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb hit a police patrol in central Baghdad, police said.

FALLUJA - A U.S. Marine was killed on Sunday by "enemy action" in Anbar Province, the U.S. military said.

TAJI - One person was killed and six wounded when a roadside bomb went off in Taji, some 20 km north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - The bodies of four people were found in Sadr City, in eastern Baghdad, police said. They had been shot and there were signs of torture.

We find 11 story lines listed here under the title "FACTBOX-Developments in Iraq, March 13", yet after further investigation only 2 of them are current (follow the asterisk trail). Each of these 11 stories are "bad" news. Yet, if you look around a little, there is a great deal of GOOD news to be found about Iraq and what goes on there. In fact, just a pop over to CentCom.mil and you get 3 FRESH stories dateline March 13, 2006 that give cause for a feeling that perhaps things really MAY be going well, or better at least, than what our unbiased media friends would have us believe.

INSURGENTS FOUND GUILTY OF POSSESSION OF ILLEGAL WEAPONS AND ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSING

COALITION FORCES RESPOND TO ATTACK IN KUNAR, DETAIN INSURGENTS

2ND.,6TH IA DIV. PROVIDES IMMEDIATE RESPONSE FOLLOWING SADR CITY TERRORIST ATTACKS

This last story especially troubles me since all the headlines I can find and follow today about the attack in Sadr city are ALL in regard to the meme of a civil war's inevitability, yet our Cent Com people, you know...the ones there ON THE GROUND, are telling us we have responded, are rounding up the bad guys, and things are approaching relative calm. Why the disparity in the news from US soil versus on-the-ground-in-Iraq?

A look at today's headlines at DVIDSHUB.NET shares with us 6 headlines:

MiTTs Take Jundi Training to Next Level

4ID Band Takes Mardi Gras on Road for Soldier Morale

MND-B Soldiers Find Multiple Weapons Caches

Iraqi EOD Team Helps Make Road Safer

Gateway Reopens for Iraqi Citizens

MiTTs Take Training to Next Level

So I asked myself "haystack, are the centcom and dvidshub websites working in collusion to spread propaganda and it is only US media outlets who can be trusted to bring the truth?"

I came to the conclusion that a thing in life is pursued or cast aside solely based on the belief it can be attained or achieved. As long as our people inside the US get the first 11 stories, we will continue to draw further back from the sacrifice, commitment, and drive toward that end, which is Victory. If we started seeing HALF the energy spent by the US media on the good and the accomplished and the acts that inspire pride and dignity in Iraq, we would see a much faster pace of the needed investment from our Politicians and our Citizens, and a much earlier Victorious completion of the mission...and a much lower unnecessary loss of life.